District police embrace concept of preventing crime through design

All at the table

Seated with Monty Hoffman, chief executive of the development company Hoffman-Madison Waterfront, Hickson and Lanier debated how best to deploy officers at the Wharf.

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Hoffman was willing to build a police substation. But Hickson preferred only a closet for storing gear; he wants to discourage officers from sitting in an office and keep them on the streets.

The conversation turned to curbs. Hoffman doesn’t want them, hoping to recreate what he called a European street ambiance, with sidewalks and streets at the same level.

Hickson and Lanier voiced concerns about safety — curbs help keep runaway cars from hitting sidewalk pedestrians — but agreed that a no-curb design might make things easier for police on bicycles.

Thinking ahead, Lanier and Hickson figured officers on bicycles and on foot would handle most patrols at the Wharf; its dense layout would make it difficult for cars to maneuver.

And Hickson urged Hoffman to study Gallery Place — not for its public safety defects, such as the sidewalks, but for its internal security procedures and extensive network of surveillance cameras, which he said were effective.

The idea, Hickson explained, is to devise ways to police an area that go beyond simply sending more officers in.

“It’s not all crime numbers,” he said. “It’s us trying to look at what’s happening in neighborhoods, and that may influence what we do and how we do it. . . . Policing has evolved, like any business, and we’ve realized that we can be predictive rather than totally reactionary.”

Involving police at the blueprint stage adds another voice to the creative process. Police don’t make directives, however; developers can take — or leave — their advice as they see fit.

Hoffman said he learned a lot from his meetings with Hickson and Lanier. And he is acting on their input; at present, he is working to eliminate dark nooks from his plan.

Still, not every police suggestion is embraced. Police, Hoffman said, want restaurateurs to forgo romantic street lighting in favor of brighter lamps. He is seeking a compromise.

“Restaurants want romance,” Hoffman said. “Safety wants lights.”